The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Judge Kozinski says we need cameras in the courtroom

Kozinski started his talk by going over some of the arguments he has made before [PDF] in support of cameras (e.g., studies show cameras don’t affect the proceedings, quoting his “old boss” Warren Burger — “People in an open society do not demand infallibility from their institutions, but it is difficult for them to accept what they are prohibited from observing.”).It wouldn’t be like the O.J. trial, which decidedly set the cameras-in-the-courtroom movement back. Kozinski advocates stationary cameras that would not zoom in, zoom out, or otherwise overly dramatize the courtroom events. Kozinski acknowledged that if you were to choose between a O.J. media circus or reports from informed journalists like Nina Totenberg or Linda Greenhouse, one might be happy to live without cameras.But that’s not usually the choice one has. Kozinski pointed to the “long, slow decline of the newspaper industry” and the “rise of a much more diffuse style of coverage” as a major reason why cameras should be brought into courtrooms. Increasingly, the public is relying on “pseudo-journalists” (aka bloggers) for their instantaneous legal news.“On the Internet, the loudest voice gets the most attention,” said Kozinski, who said that tends to lead to a distortion of the coverage of a case. He also raised the risks of relying on unknown bloggers, pointing to the case of “Dr. Flea.”

Someone explain to me why our federal courtrooms should be closed to the public.

8 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I agree with Ace Criminal Defense Attorney Tom Mesereau, who once said that cameras and the media are intoxicating for lawyers. Man needs to humble himself before God and acknowledge that this world is not about us as individual people. We were placed here to serve the Most High and to have a relationship with him. As a practical matter, cameras in the federal courtrooms would cause federal prosecutors to want to indict every famous person there is in order to build themselves up. Have some humility.

Courtrooms are open to the public. Just not for media hounds like some lawyers, who would love to show their camera shots on their websites, etc. Please. Kozinski is wrong. No one cares except media hounds, which is good reason not to have them.

Personally I cannot afford any more publicity, what with the blog groupies chasing me now as it is. If they put cameras in the courtroom I won't be able to get a seat at the sushi bar without people pointing and staring.

The Southern District of Florida blog was started by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.